Transcript

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>> Pro choice, pro living.>> A sweeping victory Monday for abortion rights at the Supreme Court, in its most consequential ruling on the issue in a quarter century. The court striking down a Texas law imposing tough restrictions on abortion clinics. The landmark decision prompting cheers from women's rights advocates outside the Court.

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In the five to three opinion, the court deciding Texas had put an undo burden on women with a law requiring clinics to have hospital level facilities and that doctors doing abortions have attending privileges at hospitals. Laurence Hurley is at the High Court.>> This ruling kind of puts a stop to a wave of state efforts to regulate abortion through placing restrictions on clinics saying that that's for the benefit of women.

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The court didn't buy into that saying that when states pass these laws they can't just state that they're good for women without any justification for it.>> Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court's frequent swing vote on contentious social issues, once again casting the deciding vote.>> With this historic ruling justice has been served and our clinics can stay open.

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>> They probably got more than they even hope for from this decision. It wasn't clear from the oral arguments back in march that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote on the court, was willing to side with the liberal justice on the whole package. In other words, striking the law down entirely.

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>> Clinics challenging the law said it was intended to shut down abortion clinics in the state. Many had closed since the law was enacted in 2013. The decision sets a nationwide legal precedent, imperiling several similar laws passed in conservative leaning states in recent years.